hankyoreh

Thoughts on decision to deploy THAAD in South Korea

While more than half of the country thinks that the decision to deploy the THAAD missile defense system on the Korean Peninsula was a mistake, just 37.5% think the next administration should reconsider the plan.

In a public opinion poll carried out on Feb. 3 and 4 by Research Plus, commissioned by the Hankyoreh, 37.5% of respondents said the decision to deploy THAAD was a mistake and should be reconsidered by the next administration, while 17.9% said the decision was a mistake but should be maintained by the next administration. 34% of respondents said it was the right decision in terms of security on the Korean Peninsula. While more than half of respondents (55.4%) said the decision was a mistake, more than half (51.9%) also think the plan should be left in place. Support for reconsidering the decision was highest among respondents in their 20s, 30s and 40s; residents of the Honam region in the traditionally liberal southwest; and supporters of former Minjoo Party leader Moon Jae-in and Seongnam Mayor Lee Jae-myung, while support was relatively lower among supporters of South Chungcheong Province government Ahn Hee-jung.

An overwhelming percentage of respondents (81.7%) said that the Dec. 28 agreement about the former comfort women for the Japanese military was a mistake. 67.3% said the agreement was a mistake and should be reconsidered by the next administration, while 14.4% said it was a mistake but should be maintained by the next administration. Just 8.7% said the agreement was a good idea. In effect, the majority of voters (aside from supporters of the Saenuri Party, who tend to be hardline conservatives sympathetic to Park) want the agreement to be reconsidered.

By Kim Jin-cheol, staff reporter

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